The University of Mississippi Athletics
This Week in Ole Miss Softball
4/11/2001 | Softball
UPCOMING SCHEDULE:
Alabama series (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
Satuday, Apr. 14
vs. Alabama [DH], 4 & 6 p.m. (CT)
Sunday, Apr. 15
vs. Alabama, 1 p.m.
THIS WEEK'S AGENDA
Ole Miss (17-28, 4-11 SEC) continues its eight-game road swing this weekend at No. 6 Alabama (34-4, 14-4 SEC). The Rebels opened the road trip last weekend at Florida, going 1-2. Sophomore shortstop Amanda Lehotak hit .500 for the series, and leads Ole Miss in conference play, batting .319 in league games.
Alabama has been among the nation's elite this season, but skids into the week. The Crimson Tide were upended last weekend in Baton Rouge, suffering a 3-0 sweep at the hands of fifth-ranked LSU. Nonetheless, Alabama is 16-0 in Tuscaloosa this year and boasts the SEC's best offense with a .327 team average, 218 runs-scored and 29 home runs. Senior centerfielder Kelly Kretschman, a 2000 first team All-America, is batting .440 with 10 homers and 25 RBI.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Alabama has won 15 of 16 meetings with Ole Miss. The Rebels' lone victory came in the finale of a four-game set in Oxford in 1999, 3-1. In her first season at Ole Miss, Jennifer Hughes held the Tide to four hits in the complete-game win.
UA swept the series last year in Tuscaloosa. Amanda Lehotak hit. 286 (4-for-14) with two runs-scored for the Rebels in the four-game set.
FLORIDA SERIES
Ole Miss was leading or tied with Florida entering the sixth inning of all three games, but could hold on for only one. The Rebels shut out UF, 2-0, in game one but dropped games two and three, 3-4 and 2-4, on sixth-inning rallies by the Gators.
In the first game, Jennifer Hughes hurled her eighth career shutout and sixth of the 2001 season , limiting Florida to four hits. Amanda Lehotak hit 2-for-2 and scored both Ole Miss runs, reaching home in the first inning on a Kristi DiMarco sacrifice fly and scoring again in the third off a Holly Burris RBI-single.
In game two, the Gators jumped up 3-0 in the fourth inning, but the Rebels responded in the fifth with three straight run-scoring hits from Jamie Cummings, Lehotak and Jennifer Poore to tie the game. Prissie Walden would score the game-winner for the Gators in the sixth off an Ashley Boone sacrifice fly.
In the finale, Ole Miss struck first with a Lehotak solo home run in the third inning. After UF tied the game with a run in the fourth, the Rebels picked up another score in the fifth with Burris singling home Cummings for a 2-1 Ole Miss lead. The Gators took their first lead with three in the sixth, highlighted by a Walden two-run double, and held on for the win.
REBELS GET OFFENSIVE IN GAINESVILLE
Ole Miss hit. 267 as a team in the three-game set with Florida, over 30 points higher than the team's season average of .235. Jamie Cummings, Holly Burris and Amanda Lehotak all batted .500 for the series. Burris collected four hits with two RBI, while Cummings also notched four hits, including a double with one run driven in. Jennifer Poore went 3-for-8 with one RBI and two walks. Jessica Hamilton picked up two hits (2-for-8) in the series.
LEHOTAK RULES SEC PLAY
Amanda Lehotak continued her hot conference hitting last weekend in Gainesville. The sophomore shortstop has been the Rebels' top hitter in SEC action, batting .319 to go with two triples and four RBI. Last weekend Lehotak led the team at the plate with a .500 average (5-for-10), a homer and two RBI. She also scored both runs in Ole Miss' 2-0 win in game one.
A native of Omaha, Neb., Lehotak posted a team-best .286 average in 2000. However, she started this season off cold and suffered through a 13-game hitless streak earlier in the year. Since then (Mar. 6), she has batted .310, and over her last seven, has hit .381.
CLOSE FIGHTS
Ole Miss has found itself in dog fights of late with the team's last six games being decided by two runs or less. The Rebels have gone 2-4 over that stretch, and are 2-8 in their last 10 games decided by two runs or less. For the year, Ole Miss is 6-9 in one-run games and 2-6 in two-run games.
TIME CHANGE
Game times for the Saturday, Apr. 21 doubleheader with Georgia have been changed from 5 & 7 p.m. to 1 & 3. The Sunday game remains at 1 p.m. The three-game set with the Bulldogs is the Rebels' final home series of the year. Ole Miss will hold ceremonies to honor its four senior players - Jamie Cummings, Rachel Davenport, Jennifer Hughes and Tina Sclafani - prior to Sunday's finale.
